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The Coming Day of the Lord
14 Behold, a day is coming for the LORD, when the spoil taken from you will be divided in your midst. For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city shall be taken and the houses plundered and the women raped. Half of the city shall go out into exile, but the rest of the people shall not be cut off from the city. Then the LORD will go out and fight against those nations as when he fights on a day of battle. On that day his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives that lies before Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives shall be split in two from east to west by a very wide valley, so that one half of the Mount shall move northward, and the other half southward. And you shall flee to the valley of my mountains, for the valley of the mountains shall reach to Azal. And you shall flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then the LORD my God will come, and all the holy ones with him.
On that day there shall be no light, cold, or frost. And there shall be a unique day, which is known to the LORD, neither day nor night, but at evening time there shall be light.
On that day living waters shall flow out from Jerusalem, half of them to the eastern sea and half of them to the western sea. It shall continue in summer as in winter.
And the LORD will be king over all the earth. On that day the LORD will be one and his name one.
The whole land shall be turned into a plain from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem. But Jerusalem shall remain aloft on its site from the Gate of Benjamin to the place of the former gate, to the Corner Gate, and from the Tower of Hananel to the king’s winepresses. And it shall be inhabited, for there shall never again be a decree of utter destruction. Jerusalem shall dwell in security.
And this shall be the plague with which the LORD will strike all the peoples that wage war against Jerusalem: their flesh will rot while they are still standing on their feet, their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongues will rot in their mouths.
And on that day a great panic from the LORD shall fall on them, so that each will seize the hand of another, and the hand of the one will be raised against the hand of the other. Even Judah will fight at Jerusalem. And the wealth of all the surrounding nations shall be collected, gold, silver, and garments in great abundance. And a plague like this plague shall fall on the horses, the mules, the camels, the donkeys, and whatever beasts may be in those camps.
Then everyone who survives of all the nations that have come against Jerusalem shall go up year after year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Booths. And if any of the families of the earth do not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, there will be no rain on them. And if the family of Egypt does not go up and present themselves, then on them there shall be no rain; there shall be the plague with which the LORD afflicts the nations that do not go up to keep the Feast of Booths. This shall be the punishment to Egypt and the punishment to all the nations that do not go up to keep the Feast of Booths.
And on that day there shall be inscribed on the bells of the horses, “Holy to the LORD.” And the pots in the house of the LORD shall be as the bowls before the altar. And every pot in Jerusalem and Judah shall be holy to the LORD of hosts, so that all who sacrifice may come and take of them and boil the meat of the sacrifice in them. And there shall no longer be a trader in the house of the LORD of hosts on that day.
(ESV)
Zechariah 14 Commentary
by Brad Boyles
In Philippians, Paul urges the church to “hold onto the truth we have attained.” This means as truth is revealed to us, we must continue to move forward and not lose ground with regard to our spiritual journey. This is where misunderstandings and assumptions can be costly. When we are lazy in our commitment to the Word of God and stray from meeting with Him regularly in prayer, we should not be surprised when life beats us down and steals our joy.
Zechariah 14 is a prophecy that looks ahead to the last days. The reason we know this is because the details do not match with other places in history. For example, when Jerusalem was overthrown by the Romans in 70 A.D. (as predicted by Jesus), the city itself was flattened. The Messiah did not come to their rescue. This is an interesting point to consider.
Israel’s overconfidence in prophecies like this one lured them to believe that Jerusalem could not be destroyed. They failed to take seriously the prophecies that spoke of their Messiah first coming to die.
“This was the type of arrival the Jews in Jesus’ day hoped for. Indeed, when the Roman armies surrounded Jerusalem in 70 A.D. a mistaken assurance from prophecies like this made the Jews utterly confident that the Messiah would return from heaven and wipe out the Roman armies surrounding Jerusalem. They could not see that the Messiah must first be rejected and the nation brought to repentance as Zechariah mentioned in 11:12-13 and 12:10.”
David Guzik
It always comes back to repentance, doesn’t it? Ironically, this is a component of Americanized Gospel presentations that is sometimes left out.
I still remember the first time I publically presented the Gospel to a group of teenagers at Campus Life. Looking back now, my intentions were pure but my obedience was severely lacking. I can’t believe how nervous I was. I put all the pressure on myself to deliver the “right words” that would convince these kids to ask Jesus into their heart. I wanted it to appeal to them so badly that I cut corners in my presentation. I formulated a slick marketing campaign in order to appeal to the masses (something Jesus never did). I didn’t give the full picture, like counting the cost – something I have since repented of. Just like Israel, I took the truth and tweaked it to fit my own agenda.
Ultimately, I am thankful that Jesus stuck with me through my flaws. I am nowhere near the man He wants me to be, but I have come a long way since that time. If you ask me what the difference is between now and then, it all comes back to my relationship. I cannot go a day without studying His Word and meeting with Him in prayer. I have seen the fruit of this time and it is simply non-negotiable.
So, where are you at these days with your relationship? Are you meeting with Him regularly and growing in His Word? Are you watching and tracking His movement in your life as you lift up your prayers high to His throne? In a world where we have options to pick and choose nearly anything that piques our interest, Jesus only comes one way – fully loaded. Are you ready to step into the driver’s seat?